Dr. Delamarche is currently leading activities on Precision Diagnostics at IBM Research - Zurich with the goal of using expertise in micro/nanotechnology, physics and biochemistry for solving important problems in biology and medicine. One of his main projects deals with the development of portable and precise diagnostic devices using microfluidic concepts and smartphones. In addition to his research, he is also a Lecturer at ETH Zurich and a contributor to scientific panels for grant agencies and governments. He published over 120 papers and is co-inventor on more than 70 patent families. He has received numerous awards from IBM, was named “Master Inventor” by IBM, and received the Werner prize of the Swiss Chemical Society in 2006.

Diagnostics are ubiquitous in healthcare because they support prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Specifically, point-of-care diagnostics are particularly attractive for identifying diseases near patients, quickly, and in many settings and scenarios. One of our contribution to the field of microfluidics is the development of capillary-driven microfluidic chips for highly miniaturized immunoassays. In this presentation, I will review how to program capillary flow and encode specific functions to form microfluidic elements that can easily be assembled into self-powered devices for immunoassays, reaching unprecedented levels of precision for manipulating samples and reagents. This technology can also be augmented using peripherals and smartphones for flow control and monitoring with sub-nanoliter precision. Is the next generation of point-of-care devices finally coming?